R30 (New York City Subway car)
| R30/A (New York City Subway car) | |
|---|---|
|
R30 car 8506 on display at the w:New York Transit Museum. | |
|
Interior view of R30 car 8506. | |
| Manufacturer | St. Louis Car Company |
| Replaced | BMT Standard, and BMT ex-Staten Island ME-1 units, BMT Bluebirds, and BMT Multi's, and many older BMT elevated equipment |
| Constructed | 1961–1962 |
| Entered service | 1961 |
| Refurbishment | 1985-1988 |
| Scrapped | 1991-1993 |
| Number built | 320 |
| Number in service | (2 in work service) |
| Number preserved | 3 (2 stored out of service) |
| Number scrapped | 314 |
| Formation | Married Pairs |
| Fleet numbers | 8250–8411 (GE), 8412–8569 (WH), 8352-8411 (R30A) |
| Capacity | 56 (seated) |
| Operator(s) | New York City Subway |
| Specifications | |
| Car body construction | LAHT Carbon steel |
| Car length | 60 ft (18.29 m) |
| Width | 10 ft (3.05 m) |
| Height | 12.08 ft (3.68 m) |
| Platform height | 3.76 ft (1.15 m) |
| Doors | 8 |
| Maximum speed | 55 mph (89 km/h) |
| Weight | 80,600 lb (36,560 kg) |
| Traction system | General Electric (GE) 1257 |
| Transmission | Westinghouse XCA248 and General Electric MCM 17KG192A and SCM propulsion system |
| Auxiliaries | WH 1447 JR; GE 1257F1 |
| Electric system(s) | 600 V DC Third rail |
| Current collection method | Contact shoe |
| Braking system(s) | WABCO ME42B SMEE |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
The R30 was a New York City Subway car built by St. Louis Car Company for the New York City Transit Authority in 1961 and 1962. It was a continuation of the R16 and R27 style. They were a "follow-up" or supplemental stock for the B Division's R27s and closely resemble them.
The cars were coupled together as pairs.[1] Cars 8352–8411 were equipped with GE SCM controllers (first New York City Subway cars to be equipped with this system) and labeled R30As whereas the rest of the fleet were equipped with the older GE MCM or Westinghouse XCA248 controllers.
History
The R30s were primarily BMT Eastern Division cars, although they would appear in the northern and southern divisions from time to time.
Like their R27 sister units, the R30s wore several paint schemes over the course of their career. Originally delivered in a dark olive green paint scheme, many were repainted bright red in the late 1960s before receiving the MTA platinum mist grey-and-blue scheme beginning in 1970. The rebuilt R30s were finished in a fox red color and were called the BMT Redbirds.
162 GE equipped R30s and all R30As were overhauled in 1985, which included being repainted in the Redbird style of the IRT cars. The unrebuilt R30s, which were Westinghouse cars numbered 8412-8569, were also painted red in the mid-1980s.
Retirement and after service life
The unrebuilt R30s were retired in 1991 by the R68s and R68As. The rebuilt R30s followed after the unrebult units were retired. Expected to retire at a later time, the rebuilt cars were prematurely phased out as the Transit Authority deemed them too difficult to upgrade with air-conditioning, which would have been costly and would have added too much weight to the cars. All of the new parts used for the rebuilding of these cars were salvaged and re-installed on R36WF cars 9558-9769 to improve their reliability between 1992-1993.
As a result, the last of the rebuilt R30s were retired from passenger service on June 25, 1993 on the C train. The Electric Railroaders Association then sponsored a Farewell to the R30 Fan Trip.
After retirement, some R30 cars were saved for various purposes throughout the New York City Subway system, including:
- 8429 and 8558 - converted as Rail Adhesion Cars, based at Coney Island Yard and Pitkin Yard, respectively.
- 8506 - preserved at the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, New York in the R30's original dark olive paint scheme.
- 8481 and 8522 - used as the New York Transit Museum's "supply" cars in the 207th Street Yard in Manhattan. Both cars are in the Redbird paint scheme.
- 8394 - placed in an Asics store in Times Square in late October 2014. The car was previously used for filming scenes in the Mohave Desert.[2]
Other R30s that had been preserved before November 2013 included:
- 8265 and 8336 - used as school cars in Concourse Yard until 2009, when they were reefed and replaced by R40 cars 4442-4443 (since scrapped).
- 8289-8290 - used as police training cars in Coney Island Yard until January 2008, when they were reefed.
- 8337 - used as a training car at the Transit Tech High School until 2009, when it was replaced by R42 cars 4736-4737 and reefed later that year.
- 8392 and 8401 - used as fire training cars in Coney Island Yard until July 2004. They were replaced by R110B cars 3004 and 3006 and reefed in July 2007.
- 8424-8425 - used as school cars in Coney Island Yard until October 21, 2013. They were possibly replaced by R32 cars 3786-3787 and scrapped at Sims Metal Management.
- 8463 - used as a school car in Pitkin Yard until October 22, 2013, when it was also trucked to New Jersey to be scrapped at Sims Metal Management along with the last remaining R27 car (8145).
In Popular Culture
- A train of R30s was featured in the film Ghost running as a J train.
- In the 1993 film Carlito's Way with Al Pacino, R30s were used during the chase scene near the end of the film. Cars 8275, 8277, 8330, 8332, 8335, 8340, and 8351 were seen among others. These trains displayed the 1 Broadway Local rollsigns.
- For the 1995 film Money Train, two 3-car sets of GE R30s were retrofitted with extra bright lights in the bottom of the car. They were 8294, 8298, 8394-8395, 8397, and 8408. Also, a single four-car set appeared in the movie. This four-car set included cars 8463, 8510, 8558, and 8569, which were filmed running on New York City Transit property.[3][4]
- In the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance, a set of GE R30s was used for the scene when the rear car of a Brooklyn-bound 3 train is derailed at Wall Street station, demolishing many of the station's support columns.
- In the movie Godzilla (1998 film), a partially destroyed R30 car, 8410, was used for an underground scene.
- All five movie appearances mentioned above depict the R30 cars in the Redbird paint scheme.
- A simulated version of the R30 interior was featured in the opening credits of Season 2 of the television show Everybody Hates Chris.
- Various R30s were shown in the 1982 made-for-TV film "Dreams Don't Die", depicting the R30s in the MTA Silver/Blue livery and the beige and orange interiors.
- A scene in the movie Saturday Night Fever shows a train of R30As running on the R train.
See also
- R27 (New York City Subway car) - a very similar model also built by the St. Louis Car Company.
References
- Notes
- ↑ "www.nycsubway.org". www.nycsubway.org.
- ↑ "First Dibs: Asics Installs NY Subway Car In Flagship Store - Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment News - VH1 Celebrity". VH1 Celebrity Gossip and Entertainment News.
- ↑ "www.nycsubway.org". www.nycsubway.org.
- ↑ MTA NYCT: "Redbirds" in (Money Train). YouTube. 13 January 2012.
- Further reading
- Sansone, Gene. Evolution of New York City subways: An illustrated history of New York City's transit cars, 1867-1997. New York Transit Museum Press, New York, 1997 ISBN 978-0-9637492-8-4
External links
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